Special Session To Cost Taxpayers $25,000 A Day

Legislators Defended The Cost Because Of The Complex Issues They Face, Such As The Budget And School Codes.

April 30, 2002|By Bob Mahlburg, Sentinel Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- Spending almost as much money each day as a starting Orange County schoolteacher makes in a year, Florida legislators Monday started their fifth overtime session in the past seven months.

The tab to taxpayers of the special session is expected to cost about the same as the last four: about $25,000 for every day they meet. The cost of hotels, food and travel to Tallahassee for 160 lawmakers and their staffs adds up quickly, not to mention the copying costs and extra hours for clerks and other part-time staff.

The state has long budgeted up to $40,000 per day for such meetings, but the actual cost for recent sessions has been about $25,000, state figures show. That's almost as much as a year's pay for a starting Orange County teacher with a bachelor's degree: $27,650.

If the session runs the entire 10 days it is scheduled, lawmakers will have spent $250,000 finishing the business they could not finish in a regular session and special session on the state school code that fell apart earlier this month.

Lawmakers said the issues they face are complex, and the additional cost is well worth it.

"I would much rather have it done right than have it fast," said Senate Majority Leader Jim King, R-Jacksonville.

But others said personal squabbling and power plays prevented lawmakers from finishing their work on time -- costing taxpayers more and more each day.

The Legislature's two-month regular session ended March 22 with no agreement on a state budget and other required work, thanks to fighting on education spending and between House Speaker Tom Feeney and Senate President John McKay on McKay's plan to overhaul the sales-tax system.

"We have a constitutional obligation to get the budget done, but the question is could we have gotten the budget done in the regular session, and the answer is yes," said House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach. "But that probably would have taken more leadership from the governor and less bickering by the Republican leaders."

While racking up extra costs for food, lodging and travel, lawmakers are struggling to finish the budget and scrape together money for schools, social services and the environment.

It's more than just schools.

Col. Chris Knight, head of the state Highway Patrol, told legislators Monday that the state faces "a major problem" of a shortage of troopers to assist disabled motorists and halt drunken drivers.

For every day lawmakers meet, the roughly $25,000 cost would almost cover starting pay of a trooper, $30,825 per year.

Bills from the Legislature's two special sessions earlier this year each totaled more than $20,000 per day. The biggest cost is travel for lawmakers and their staffs, some of whom fly in from South Florida, said Amanda McAdams, finance and accounting head for the Office of Legislative Services. Hotels and meals are the next biggest costs.

Legislative rules permit hotel bills of up to $93.50 a day for House members and up to $115 a day for senators, amounts set by the speaker and Senate president, she said. Then there are meals at up to $21 per day.

And a special session also requires more employees making $7 to $10 an hour to drive shuttle vans, proofread bills and deliver journals, which for 20 workers adds roughly another $1,200 per day to the bill, said Larry Davis, human-resources director for the Office of Legislative Services.

Even security and the paper still used in much of government costs more with extra sessions.

"There are bills, amendment packets and copies of bills for the public," said Faye Blanton, secretary of the Senate. "There is some added expense."